


Gensokyo's 'Finest' Days

by Shun Yi - General of the Center (MushinryuNinjutsu)



Series: Between Two Dimensions [2]
Category: Baldur's Gate, Kingdom Hearts, NIOH (Video Game), Touhou Project
Genre: 2016 US Presidential Election, Action, Adventure, Amrita, Arabic Language, At least mentions about the elections, Buddhism, Bushido - Freeform, Chinese Language, Crossover, Fenrir - Freeform, Figurative Symbolism, Foreign Language plays a minor role though, Gen, Islamophobia, Its the best translator for people on the budget~, Keyblade, Less About the Other Two Games, Limit Break, Mainly Touhou, Multiple Crossovers, Prequel, Preview, Roleplaying Character, Samurai, Shinto, Tansheron's Bow, Though their gameplay and items are used quite often, Video Game Mechanics, google translate, tuberculosis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-04-06
Packaged: 2018-09-25 21:32:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9845972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MushinryuNinjutsu/pseuds/Shun%20Yi%20-%20General%20of%20the%20Center
Summary: A few disciples and followers from of the Myouren Temple are being abducted by black robed individuals, who are in possession of strange crystalline objects that mutates youkai into uncontrollable forms of themselves.  It is up to two Human Samurai to deal with the situation.  Well, at least one of them is an actual samurai.  The other one is just roleplaying as one due to circumstances of today's society, hehe~!Title was formerly "Way of the Roleplayer."





	1. Chapter 1

Bounded by ropes and having her mouth taped up, a black-haired girl in a black dress with several blue tails and red scythe-like wings struggled in vain to break free.

Nue Houjuu, the girl bounded by ropes, was being dragged by a group of black-robed individuals, who promptly captured her when she was trying to scare them off near the Myouren Temple.  Earlier, she tried to do so to keep them away from her, but these robed individuals did not flinch and instead communicated in a foreign language unknown to her as they stalked her, swiftly grabbing and apprehending her shortly after.  She tried to struggle free and call for help, but it was to no avail.  Why they did so was unknown to her, for most humans would have been scared of her given her past encounter.

They dragged her deep into the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, a forest that was difficult to navigate through due to the constant changing of scenery because of the surrounding trees constantly growing and shrinking.  She could do nothing, but wait for what they wanted for her.  For all she knew, they probably were people from the Human Village demanding money from the Myouren Temple she occasionally visited.  Then again, there was some underground organization that ran underneath the village, to which these individuals were similarly dressed like them.  She wanted to get questions out of them as they continually dragged her, but alas, her mouth was taped up.

This continued on until the group arrived at a clearing with a small river running through it.  They brought Nue to the center and released the rope, feeling worn out now that it was late afternoon and dragging her took a lot of effort to do so.  Given that the majority of them sounded out of breath, she recognized that they were hungry and exhausted.  How did these individuals managed to go about without sustenance was a wonder, given that they must have done so for days, perhaps weeks.

One of these black-robed figures approached her and knelt down to her, removing the tape from her mouth.  She gasped for air as he threw it on the ground, looking back at her.

“الآن، سوف تقول لنا أين لكم جميعا تم إخفاء شون يي في (Now, you will tell us where all of you have been hiding Shun Yi at.),” the masked man lowly told her.

Nue did not understand what he was saying at all nor did she like his tone, so she stared back at him, confused.

“آه، أنت لا تفهم لغتنا في كل شيء، تماما مثل صديقك ... حسنا جدا، سوف تحول لغتي لمباراة واحدة والتي قد تعترف (Ah, you don't understand our language at all, just like your friend...  Very well, I'll switch my language to match one that you may recognize).  Better now?”

She nodded, slightly intrigued that this individual knew a language anyone she knew did not recognize.

“Now, the reason why you are here is because we are hunting someone that threatens us.  We need to… subdue him before he proceeds to do something terrible to us.”

“And who is this certain person you’re hunting?”

“A man named Shun Yi.”

She thought about who they were talking about, but had no idea about who would have that name.  Much more, their intent in trying to find this man who they claim threatens them felt malicious by nature.

“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” she dismissingly responded.

“Don’t lie to us.  We even caught your friend that knows the true identity of him!”

He snapped his finger, to which a couple of them dragged along an orange-yellow short-haired woman donned in a burgundy orange-white dress wrapped around by a tiger striped pelt.  She recognized this woman to be Shou Toramaru, a resident from the temple she lived in that was revered to be a god to youkai by the chief Buddhist leader.

“Don’t tell them what they want,” Shou screamed at Nue, triggering her to stay wary of their actions.

“As you could see, you’re in no position to divert us from what we want.  So tell us now where he may be hiding and we’ll leave you both alone…”

She remained silent, still defensive, while thinking of a way to lie to them about the location of this ‘Shun Yi’ they spoke of.

“Ah, I see that you need a bit of convincing…  Very well, bring it out.”

One of these robed individuals took out from a brown leather bag a yellow shard-like crystal.  Grasping it from his hand, it morphed itself into a spike.  This individual then moved towards the captured Shou, who then tried to squirm away in vain at the sight of it.

“… What are you doing with that spike,” Nue shockingly asked her interrogating him, suddenly feeling shaken by what they’re going to do with her.

“If you value your friend, you would tell us where the whereabouts of Shun Yi.  Otherwise, we will drive into her chest due to your lack of cooperation!”

She looked away for a moment, staring at Shou, who was reacting unusually scared at the sight of the crystal approaching her.

“Even if your group claims that I know something about him, I still do not know who this person’s name you’re babbling at me about…”

The interrogator signaled the one holding the spike to stop.

“Ah, I see that he hasn’t even told you his real name, yet told her instead…  If you must know, he goes by the name of Tsuken Yasashi.”

Nue heard that name before, especially when said named person was an occasional visitor of the Myouren Temple that attended Byakuren’s sermons at times.  In fact, she encountered Tsuken a few months back in the Human Village when he appeared to be mortally wounded and was in need of medical care.  Had it not been for a female samurai that was willing to care for him at her dojo, he would have ended up dead in a matter of a few minutes due to blood loss.

He was a devout visitor of the temple these past months, mainly worshipping Shou after finding out that she was an avatar of Bishamonten; or so Byakuren told her.  From what the chief priest commented about him, he was a great helper to many of the youkai that resided in the temple, despite his war-like mindset.  Recently however, he had stopped visiting the temple, which made some of the youkai worry about his wellbeing.

“Come closer and I’ll tell you,” she told the hooded man.  “I can’t let my friend that’s being captive by your lot become alerted about his whereabouts, right?”

He looked at Shou, then smiled and understood why she wanted to whisper the information instead of telling it out loud.  Understanding this, he bent down, letting the right side of his head close to hers to hear her out.  As he did so, Nue slowly moved one of her wings to the ropes that bounded her entire body to quickly cut herself free.  While her wings were cutting through the poorly maintained ropes, she made a trident appear in her hands and impaled him with it.

“Guah, Aggh,” he yelped, falling onto his back, now sprawled on the ground with the polearm’s edge stuck through his stomach.

The black-haired girl stood up shortly after her interrogator’s fall, looking at the other robed individuals around her.  She had to work quickly if she wanted to rescue the acclaimed avatar of Bishamonten and that began with launching a snake-like object towards her.  It then turned into a knife that flew through the ropes binding the tiger youkai.  Immediately after, she fired off a barrage of small orbs that surrounded her to create distance between her and the robed men.

All of them backed away from her as the orbs approached them.  Shou freed herself from the rope the knife slit through and she too stood up, holding it.  It then turned into a long spear and she held it in a high stance.

“I can aid you against these kidnappers,” Shou insisted, stabbing one of them as they slowly approached her, pulling the spear back and swiping them away from her.

What surprised Nue was not that Shou wanted to stay by her side to fend them off, but rather, what some of the men they fought did to her danmaku.  In response to her firing the orbs at them, the orbs moved into some of their hoods, which shrunk and were then absorbed within them.  Just who were these enemies the two fought against?

“No.  Get out of here, right no-!!”

_Twak_

Shou’s eyes widened as she saw her friend’s trident flying towards her back, piercing through her body.

“Nue?  NUE!!!”

The black-haired youkai touched her trident’s blade that went through her stomach from behind, confirming that the blue goo-like substance on it was indeed her blood.  She let out a horrific scream that echoed throughout the forest, shocking Shou in the process.  Every nerve within her body suddenly felt cold as she drew in each breath, which her spear was drawn away from her, followed by a kick to her back by the interrogator that she stabbed earlier.

The interrogator’s wound from her trident slowly began to form back up as he approached and knelt down to her as Nue tried to crawl forward as yellow-like orbs attempted to escape through the opening.  She extended her hand to the distant Shou, who was currently in a shock.

“Go… You’ve got to warn the others,” she weakly called out to Shou, gesturing her own hands to the tiger youkai to flee.

The robed individual took out a yellow spike-like crystal from one of his robe sleeves, holding the spiked side in his backhand.

“وهنا لسماع لكم (Here's to hearing you out!),” he said, driving the spike into her back.

There was no time to react, especially when she did not see what was coming towards her.   It pierced through her skin, digging deep into her upper back.  She tried to let out another scream, but shortly after, she was left breathless.  The spike then began crystalizing around her back, causing the robed individual to stand up and back away from her.

“يتم ذلك. الوقت لترك يا إخوتي  (It is done. Time to leave, my brothers),” he told the robed men.

All of them then backed away from both Nue and Shou, disappearing through the thicket of bamboo trees.  Shou broke through the shock, now realizing why these robed people left the two alone after snapping her attention back to the crystalizing Nue.  Lowering the spear, she rushed to her friend and knelt down to her, who was struggling to move an inch.

“Oh no, we hafta get that crystal out of you,” she shakenly spoke, trying to grasp and pull it out of her.

However, the crystal continually grew.  Nue could feel her insides being punctured by its protrusion.

“Don’t,” Nue weakly responded, “I-I don’t think I’ll make it…  You have to warn the others about these robed individuals that threaten us…”

The crystal formation expanded throughout her back, forming smaller ones.  Shou noticed that Nue was transforming and mutating at the same time, causing her to jump up and walk away from her.

“GO, NOW BEFORE I-GYAAAAH!!!”

As Shou saw Nue screaming in agony due to her transformation, a sudden shock of horror came to her at the sight of her monstrous appearance.  Her arms and legs turned into ones of a tiger, body changed into a japanese raccoon dog, while her face morphed into a monkey, and a snake’s tail grew at the bottom of her spinal cord.  It was as if she was a chimera.  No, her friend was THE chimera of several Japanese folklore told generations past from today!  Heeding her friend’s last words, she turned around, jumped in the air, flying away from the scene, not looking back as the chimera began summoning dark clouds that began raining down lightning from the sky.

 

A black-haired short young man dressed in a blue yukata began coughing, spewing out what seemed to be bits of blood onto the palm of his hands.

“Something up, Tsuken,” a purple-haired ponytailed woman with bangs in a white yaori and hakama under a red surcoat asked him.

He clenched his fist, trying to hide the blood that he just coughed up.

“I’m fine, Meira,” he responded, closing his eyes at the sight of it.

After pacing for a while in this moderately maintained straw-roofed home of a place, he walked to the bonfire centered in a wooden squared pit, sitting across Meira to enjoy the warmth of the fire inside it.  This home, aside from the dojo they kept at the Human Village, was where Meira lived at.  She lived at a fair distance away from the village due to having a peculiar reputation with some of the people with her title as Samurai.

At the time of his sudden arrival a few months back, he was mortally wounded and dressed in samurai gear, to which the village did not take kindly to his appearance at all.  Had Meira not shown up after his discovery by a black-haired nue youkai named Nue Houjuu, he would have probably be dead and looted by some collector.  Wanting to show gratitude, he willingly volunteered to be Meira’s quartermaster in her dojo in the village, supplying sparring weapons and armaments whenever he could.

But now, he was suffering from an unknown disease, most likely caught due to how cold it was.  This disease, according to the local doctor at the village told him, affected the lungs and was highly contagious after several weeks weeks.  Fortunately enough, he was diagnosed with it on the first few days.  Over the next few weeks, he did his best to cure it personally in hopes of caring for himself.  However, that only made his condition slightly worse.

“We should take you to Eientei in the bamboo forest,” Meira told him, watching him lightly cough.  “I’m sure they have medication that will take care of you over there.”

“I don’t know if we’ll make it in time, considering the weather right now,” he replied, noticing that he was continually coughing up more blood.  “I mean, flight is possible, but I don’t want to spread the disease to you…”

“I’ll be fine.  Stop being a-”

The sound of lightning emulated from the sky, sending an unsettling chill to the two.

“In second thought, maybe you’re right…  After all, the Bamboo Forest is far from where we’re at.”

This samurai lived northward from the village near some farmland, albeit still in the outskirts.  Upon hearing the sound of thunder in the sky from the south, the two decided to stay sheltered in this small house.  Not to mention, she hated thunderstorms.  The last time she flew in the sky during such weather, a stray bolt struck her and she almost completely fell from the sky.  This caused her to be fearful of lightning; there was no way she would chance another try in such conditions…

There was a small kettle with water inside standing on a makeshift stove above the bonfire.  Tsuken slightly sighed as he stared at the fire, thinking about home and how he missed his video games right now.  Even though it had been months since he had entered here, he wondered who pulled him here in this land called ‘Gensokyo’ when he was wounded and why he was even still alive in this dangerous place to begin with.

“You really do miss where you belong,” Meira questioned him, looking at him with concern.

“Yes, yes I do,” Tsuken sorrowfully replied.  “There’s so many things that I missed there.”

“Like?”

“Family, friends, and some things that belonged to me…  It’s not like I cherish them so deeply, but they did support me while I lived my life as it was.  At least, whenever they could…”

Meira wondered how the outside world was.  Was it anything like this land she lived in?  Was it drastically different?  Sure, the Kappas and the residents of Youkai Mountain presented objects and machinery that belonged there, but she questioned if his perspective of that place was different.

“Agh, curse you, elections,” he stated, placing his hands on his forehead, beginning to tap one of his feet on the ground.

“Elections,” she asked.

“Oh, I umm…  Basically, it’s when two people, usually from a long political or successful career backgrounds vie for power over a country by appealing to the people of the country to be voted in to become the leader of a nation.  Before I suddenly disappeared from where I belong, this event was happening.  One of these people was having the upper hand at the other at the time.”

“I see…  Who did you support to win this election?”

He blushed a bit in embarrassment.

“I supported-”

Just then, the sound of several knocks emulated from the door, bringing both residents their attention to it.

“Come in,” Meira shouted, to which the door slid open, revealing a blonde-purple gradiant long haired haired woman in a black and white dress with hazel eyes.  This woman, Byakuren Hijiri, walked in and saw the two near the bonfire, warming up by it.

“Ah, there you are, Tsuken-san,” Byakuren told Tsuken, approaching him.  “I’ve been looking for you.”

“Something wrong,” he asked her, facing her with both a sickly, yet worried face.

“As a matter of fact, yes, there’s a situation at the temple.  Some of my disciples are missing recently and I’ve been trying to look for them…”

Although she questioned his health, he reassured her that he was fine.  She then explained the two about the situation at her place.  Apparently, some of her disciples and attendees were not present as they normally should.  This roused the two residents to wonder what could have happened to them.

“Was there anything unusual happening around the grounds?  Any suspicious persons lingering around the area,” Tsuken inquired.

“I think so,” Byakuren worryingly replied.  “There were some black-robed individuals wandering around hours ago.  Some of my disciples went to scare them off today, but they haven’t been back since then…”

“Aiyah, 他們不應該那樣做 (They shouldn’t have done that)…”

“…Something wrong?”

“Yes…  I know these robed individuals.  They originate from where I came from, though I’m not sure why they are here of all places.”

“You… Know them?”

“Not quite, though I know they are dangerous to be around, especially when unsuspecting youkai are around them.  Believe me, I fought them before and-”

In the corner of her eye, Byakuren noticed an injured Shou landing on the ground through an open window.

“Oh no...  Shou, what happened to you!?”

 

She ran outside, which the two followed her.  It was dusk and storm clouds had unnaturally appeared before the southern sky.  Before arriving here, Byakuren felt the air was naturally cold, but right now, it had suddenly grown unusually warm for an early winter’s day within seconds.  Stumbling, Shou approached Byakuren while using the spear as a walking stick.

“I managed to escape from the robed men a few of us gave chase to,” Shou stated, panicking in the process as she let go of the spear, falling down.  “It’s terrible.  What they’re doing with our followers in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost is terrible!”

“Calm down, Shou,” Byakuren responded, picking her back up and giving her a hug to try to comfort and calm her.  “I’m- no, we’re here, so you’re safe with us…”

Meira and Tsuken watched the two as one of them was explaining about the fates of those who followed her to pursue them: they were mutated after being stabbed by a yellow crystal presented by the black robed men.  Her followers, losing their minds to the crystal’s power, then attacked her, to which she was promptly captured by the robed men due to losing control of the situation.  Shortly after, they asked her questions about a male outsider, specifically Tsuken Yasashi, the person standing by Meira.  Although she revealed his real name to them, she did not give out where he was living at due to not knowing him enough.

Clenching one of his fists tight, he backed up a bit.  This could have been prevented if he was around at the time, since he knew how to directly deal with them.  He then placed his right pointer and thumb inside his mouth, trying to whistle.  However, as he did so, he coughed instead, spewing out blood on the palm of his hand.  The purple-haired samurai turned around after hearing him cough, seeing his failed attempt at whistling.

“Hey, what are you doing,” Meira asked.

“Ah, screw it,” he replied, partially ignoring her.

Extending his left hand out, he suddenly made a small horse whistle appear before his hand, grasping at it as he placed it on his lips, blowing hard at it to emulate a loud whistle.  A grey horse appeared behind him and he jumped on it, extending his left hand to Meira.

“I’m going to this Bamboo Forest of the Lost Shou speaks of to deal with the situation, though we may need to make a few stops first,” he answered Meira, situating himself on the horse.  “Want to come along?”

She looked back at Byakuren and Shou, then to his hand, taking it and being pulled up behind him.

“You better explain what’s going on with these robed men the tiger youkai is speaking of, then,” she told him.

Shou heard them discussing about heading to the forest to fight those robed men.  Although she became worried about the two, she knew that if they were going to go there, they needed a guide.  Grasping the spear that Nue gave her earlier, she took aim at the two samurai on horseback.

“Wait, take this with you,” the tiger youkai shouted, throwing a spear at the two.

The spear then turned itself into a green UFO, something that Tsuken thought was cartoonish, but esoteric at first.  It stopped itself by them, floating near the two.

“What is this?”

“It belongs to one of the followers in the Myouren Temple.  Her name is Nue Houjuu.”

 _Nue Houjuu,_ He thought as he stared at the little green floating UFO, his face turning pale. _The girl that saved me that day…  She’s in trouble if this is what she left behind…_

“We’ll be back before dawn,” Meira called out to Byakuren and Shou.  “Oh, could you two take care of a little girl that we’re raising inside our house while we’re gone?  She’ll be up very soon.”

“Yes, we will…  Now go!  Our followers needs help from you two!”

Tsuken reared the horse reins up, while Meira held onto him as he turned the horse toward the stone path to the right.  They then rode off, beginning their trek towards the Human Village.

_Hang in there, Nue… Help is on its way…_


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shun Yi (AKA: Tsuken Yasashi) and Meira clash with the black-robed individuals known as Faith Reavers. What seemed to be ineffective weapons that her quartermaster spawned turns out to be super effective against them. However, they soon confirm why Shou feared them the most...

“They call themselves _Faith Reavers_.”

“Faith Reavers,” Meira responded, dismounting after Tsuken did so, who tied the horse reins onto a nearby pole at their dojo.  “That name sounds less intimidating than I imagine.”

“Oh trust me; their reputation is more feared in the outside world than how they’re named…”

The two had posthastingly made it to the Human Village, arriving at the dojo.  At first, Meira was confused why they were stopping there until he told her that they needed weapons.  Realizing that she left her katana in the dojo, she felt relieved that he decided to stop here first rather than charge straight into the Bamboo Forest.

As the two arrived at the dojo’s entrance, she slid the door open and the two entered in the practice area.  The polished and finished balsa wood flooring still held up itself through the test of time, as well as the walls being maintained, thanks to several of her students and her quartermaster.  Ever since the purple-haired samurai inherited this dojo, she had trouble maintaining students due to the fact that Danmaku was a more popular avenue of settling matters.  Had this quartermaster beside her had not shown up with his ability to project weapons, the dojo would have probably been closed up by now.

“I’ll go get my katana in my quarters and we’ll be on our way,” she told him, walking to one of the doors at the corner of the room.

“All right,” Tsuken responded.  “I’ll see what I can come up with.”

As she opened one of the doors and walked through it, he was left alone in the center of the practice area.  He took in a deep breath and then slightly coughed.

 _Ah, I don’t know how long I’ll last,_ he thought, trying to concentrate on spawning weapons.  _Why did everything have to happen so suddenly back then…?_

Back then, shortly after attending an anime convention in October, he was approached by men in formal suits before making a trip back home.  They claimed and confirmed to him that they were part of a Government agency in the United States, to which he was given no choice but to follow them.  After having a meeting with their leader, an elderly woman who was a candidate for the title of President of the United States of America, they administered him a shot of some unknown liquid containing a small device in his left arm.  It then solidified into a small bump that ran between the ulna and radius bones. This was to keep track of him while executing a mission to assassinate her opponent that was giving a speech at a rally.

But his client had a hard time keeping secrets and therefore, openly revealed her backup plan to him as he was about to leave for the job, which was to send someone else to shoot her opponent if he showed any doubts in executing her plot.  When it came time to kill her opponent, instead of doing so, he objected and took a bullet for her opponent at that rally when he ran up on the stage to attempt the assassination.  Unlike his peers, he was one of the few that truly supported their own country; whose belief was closely faithful to her opponent, the Republican Candidate of the United States.

He remembered it so vividly due to the fact that it was the first time that he was pushed in a position of near death.  As his thoughts recalled how blood formed from his mouth as he took the bullet to his chest, he began coughing with his mouth closed, blood dripping from his mouth almost exactly how his thoughts played out.

“Are you all right,” Meira asked him, putting one of her hands on his shoulder.

He slightly jumped and opened his eyes, noticing that his right hand was currently gripping some kind of flat blade’s grip, which the blade was shaped like a car key.  He recognized that weapon as the keyblade that belonged in that action RPG game that originated from his PlaySystem4.  As he looked at the blade, he was happy that his ability made this weapon’s guard chopped in half remained as opposed to its video game counterpart.  In that game, should a person in real life use such a blade as a one-handed weapon, they would be twisting their wrists to the point of injury, sabotaging its intended use as a sword.

After examining what his right hand held, he looked to his left, which held onto a short bow.  He promptly knelt down to the floor due to the keyblade’s weight, trying to identify the ranged weapon.

“Y-yeah,” he answered, wiping his mouth onto his left sleeve.  “I’m fine…  In any case, I got our weapons ready.”

He presented Meira the short bow.  She took it and examined it, noticing that the bow string was unstable after a few test flicks on it.

“…But this weapon doesn’t have any arrows, nor did you spawn any at all for me…  Are you sure this will be useful in rescuing Nue without them?”

“Oh, you’ll love this shortbow I produced for you…”

 

The monstrous Nue youkai was left roaming the bamboo forest, getting lost in the process.  It unleashed an eerie loud bird cry, scaring the populace in the process with lightning striking the ground before its wake.  Each time lightning bolt and strike from its paws made contact with the bamboo, they broke.  However, each time this youkai broke several trees around it, more grew back, reforming the forest as it was.  It continued its mindless path of destruction, its nerves guided by several columns of crystalline spikes protruded on its back.

Uncertain to her, black-robed figures were close by, hiding within the thicket of bamboo trees.  A few of them were struck by the creature, but the rest reasonably hid well in the forest to prevent the youkai from detecting them.  It was largely thanks to the crystals spikes taking root behind its back that jammed her natural senses in detecting them that they were safe.  These robed individuals were feeding off of the yellow orb-like essence that flowed out of its surface; as if they were slowly feeding off of this youkai.

“You can’t escape us,” one of them silently commented to the youkai, continually absorbing the yellow orbs that came close to its hood.  “Try all you like, but in the end, you will become a part of us in due time…”

Had this creature’s senses were normal and not affected by these crystals, it would have torn through those who pursued her to shreds upon discovery by now.  With the plot going towards their favor, the robed men proceeded to feed off of the yellow orbs that steadily flowed out of the yellow crystal.  As they consumed the floating orbs, their strength began returning back to normal.

These reavers had to thank their client for telling them about this Land of Illusions located in Japan.  As told, this land had the necessary needs for them to survive and thrive as people.  For a long time, they had to stay underground until they had the approval of their newly madam president.  They patiently bided their time and when the time came, they achieved their ultimate goal: To destroy their enemies in the world and establish their ideals onto those who oppose them.  Now that their main goal was achieved, they now sought for survival where they lived.

As they continually drew the yellow orbs flowing out of the crystal rooted behind the Nue to them, two of their robed legion flew above them, lowering towards the ringleader.

“إمامي، والكشافة لدينا تقرير جنديين من هذه الأرض تقترب منا. (My imam, our scouts report two soldiers from this land approaching us.),” one of the scouts reported to him.

“وهكذا، وصلت القوة العسكرية لهذه الأرض لنا ... لم أكن أتوقع أبدا أن يكون لهذه الأرض جيش ضعيف (Thus, the military power of this land reached us ... I never expected this land to have a weak army).”  He stopped, to which all of his robed colleagues followed suit and gathered to him.  “دعونا نذهب تلبية مع قوتنا الجديدة (Let us go meet with our new strength).”

Gathered here, twelve black robed reavers sought out a way to restore their strength by using the yellow crystals given by their benefactor.  Now that they did so and found out that this land had a rather weak army to retaliate, their job difficulty in securing a land to ravage for their people was going to be easier than initially thought.  With their morale now heightened by their leader and their appetite filled, they flew off, leaving the Nue to her fate with the crystal formation rooted in her back.

 

“You know, for a quartermaster, you sure spawn some unique, yet inefficient weapons,” Meira commented to Tsuken as they rode through a plain on the grey horse towards the Bamboo of the Lost.

“Hmm,” he responded in kind, “what makes you say that?”

“This bow’s string seems lax.  Not to mention, the blade you have sheathed on your back looks heavy and inefficient.  Are you sure these weapons are effective against what we’re going up against?”

“I assure you, they’ll prove useful against our opponents.”

Tsuken continually steered the horse straight to the forest, the two riding swiftly through the plains.  The darkened sky continually rained down lightning and now, water began raining into the vicinity above them.  Meira clutched closely to him to use him as cover against the loud crackling sound of thunder, making him slightly blush.  Since arriving here, they rode forward for ten minutes and both their clothes were being drenched by the rain.  While his now wet clothes weighed down on him, at least his hands were now cleansed from the blood he coughed up earlier.

As they began to approach the forest in front of them, he noticed that twelve black-robed figures flew high and began flying towards them.  He also noticed that the miniature UFO began to hover above the two, acting as a signal to the enemy that they were approaching.  He shook his head in disapproval of the object that flew above them, aware that it would act as a signal beacon.

“Prepare for battle,” Tsuken coldly told Meira, hitting both his heels on to the horse’s side to command it to go faster.  “We have enemies approaching us!”

“What should I do,” Meira asked him.

“You have a bow.  Fly above and provide cover fire.”

The sound of thunder emulated after he gave the command to her.

“But lightning might hit me again.  Not to mention, you haven’t provided me any arrows for this weapon.”

He grabbed her surcoat, pulling her towards him.

“…  You just have to trust me this time.  Now go.  Keep yourself at low flight and close if you’re scared of lightning!”

He threw her up, to which she reluctantly complied with his command.  He turned his attention towards the blackened enemies, drawing his blade with his right hand and letting it skid on the ground as he rode forward.  It was heavy just recently, but now, it was strangely light to wield.  He had read this in a wiki before that when a keyblade chose its wielder, its weight significantly lightens itself according to the user’s physical attributes.  It also appears before said chosen wielder when they are in danger.  Could this inefficient blade adjusted to his preference have chosen him to use it in such a dangerous situation before him?

Now was not the time to think of the weapons he spawned for the two, nor was there any time to argue.  Slightly disgruntled about her quartermaster providing weapons that were inefficient, Meira flew up before the robed figures before them noticed her doing so.  She flew beside and above him while maintaining a reasonable distance between the two, continually plucking the string of the bow.  Could this weapon do anything without ammunition?  She sighed, keeping count of the black figures and mentally marking them as they began surrounding him.

Having the impression that their opponent’s blade was heavy, all of them simultaneously jumped at Tsuken from all directions.  He responded in kind, swinging it at a wide arc above him, using the momentum to swing it behind him and return it onto his left hand.  This caught most of them off guard.  He threw those that were caught by the blade’s jagged design in front of the horse.  As the horse approached them, the wielder of the keyblade then proceeded to run the blade through them.  Most of them were knocked by the flat edge of the blade.  Only one of them actually disappeared as it made contact with their body, exploding into a wave of yellow orbs.

The robed individuals shrieked as they saw one of their comrades die in front of them.  What made emotions worse on their end was the fact that the yellow orbs that exploded on their slain comrade was absorbed by the rider.  Enraged by it, they flew at him once more, taking out yellow shards from within their cloaks.

 _Here goes nothing,_ Meira thought, drawing the bow and taking aim at the group.  As she drew though, she felt what seemed to be a solid arrow’s flat end between her fingertips.  What was this sorcery that was being created by this bow?  Aware of having no time to ponder about it, she released the bowstring once she had a good draw length, releasing the invisible arrow into the group.  They were about to throw the crystals at him, when the invisible arrow struck one of their hands, causing the one struck by it to drop the crystal on the ground.

More of these invisible arrows began raining down at them.  Had the sky not have been raining water, they would not have a clue where these projectiles were coming from.  Meira may not have been a great shot, but at least she did not have to worry about drawing another arrow from a quiver thanks to these phantom arrows the bow produced for her as she drew its loose string.  She continually drew from the string and shot a hail of invisible projectiles at them, effectively pin cushioning three of them back to ground level.

 _Tansheron’s Shortbow,_ Tsuken mentally commented, slowing the horse down and blocking the invisible arrows with his blade.  _I knew she’d love that weapon the moment its bowstring was drawn._

It was one of his favorite weapons from a very old RPG game on PC one of his older brothers played many years ago.  According to the lore behind it, it was made by a lich that gave it to his Watcher to guard his tower from above.  He himself had acquired the weapon for his party at one time in the game.  It proved to be a valuable asset when his main character, a Ranger exceptionally skilled in using short bows, was the last man standing against the final boss of the game with no ammunition to use the weapon.

After a while, it did not take long for the reavers to change their target, slowly spreading their numbers to surround the samurai in flight.  She slowly stopped firing at them when she realized that she was surrounded.  Hanging the bow behind her with the string in front of her body, she drew her sword and prepared for them to charge at her.  As anticipated, they did.  As they approached her, she executed cut after cut, slicing through their robes and bodies.  Her cuts cleaved through them and although most of them did not flinch at all, some of them were cut open, exploding waves of yellow orbs out of their remains.

Soon, however, she became overwhelmed, which one of them had the smarts to approach behind her and grab the bow that hung behind her.  This individual, cladded in a feather shawl, then grabbed the bow with two hands, pulling the string to where it was near her neck to choke her.  She gagged as it was brought onto her neck, dropping her sword in the process.  His robe’s hood then fell down as he executed this motion, revealing his bald, tattooed, and gray-skinned head.

“How does it feel when you’re on the receiving end,” he commented to Meira.  “We’ve suffered for many years at the hands of a tyrant who wanted to take our crystals away.  It was thanks to your allies that brought us here to claim this land for ourselves that could sustain our people!”

“A-alli-gah,” Meira responded, trying to gasp for air, while trying to pull the string away from her neck.  She saw that those that remained were absorbing their now dead comrades into their hoods and felt horrified.  Was this the terrifying scene Shou witnessed when her group was captured by them?

“Yes, your allies.”  The bald man pointed at the horseman.  “See, he’s one of them.  This ally of yours lead us to this land for the chance to-”

“Shut up!”

The oversized car key flew at the bald man from below, striking him.  He was forced to let go of the bow when the keyblade stopped and flew back down at him, freeing the red samurai in the process.  She coughed and wheezed, regaining her breath as she secured the bow behind her once more.  Once again, the keyblade flew back at the leader of the pack and he dodged it in kind.  Tsuken then reappeared at its location, catching the blade with one of his free hands.

“Now, Meira,” he yelled at her, catching her attention as he threw her katana towards her.

Despite feeling choked up, she caught and gripped the handle of her blade and flew towards him, allowing him to hover with her in the air as she activated a badge within her uniform.  Clashing their blades together, the two were back-to-back and swung at an arc in front of them, striking the oncoming blots of shadows that were initially coming towards him.  Once they took a middle katana stance, they took notice of the surrounding darkness created by their enemy’s robes.

They spun around, heading towards different directions and striking the enemy.  Their opponents then flew above them to surprise them, but the two followed suit in swift succession, cutting through what their blades could strike.  This continued onward for about 15 seconds, enough time to cause enough damage.  With their morale hurt, they finally attempted to flee from them.

“This is it,” he yelled, placing his blade first in the center.

“Our blades shall become twofold,” Meira chanted along with him, placing the handle of her blade beside his, pointing the two blades in opposite directions.  “Spiral Typhoon!”

Together, they spun the two linked blades in front of them, followed by her placing the badge in the center of their hilts.  Once it spun quick enough, the two samurai then dashed back and flew away from it, creating a miniature typhoon that caught the robed individuals into it.

According to Tsuken’s knowledge about this particular game that the keyblade originated in, a typhoon of high winds was supposed to occur after finishing this duo limit, killing whoever was caught in it.  Instead, a shot of lightning struck down at the blades, breaking their executed technique.  As the two samurai landed on the ground with their swords landing beside them, the robed individuals freed themselves from the winds and gathered together with the bald man, exasperated at these two soldiers’ prowess in battle.

“وينبغي أن نقتلهم قبل أن يصبحوا خطرا على جدول أعمالنا (We should kill them before they become a threat to our agenda),” one of them told the bald man.

“لا (No),” the bald man responded.

“لكن لماذا؟ (But why)?”

The bald man stared at Nue, who emerged out of the bamboo forest and made its way to the two samurai.  He then pointed at the youkai that emerged out of the forest.

“سنقوم السماح الأصلي يوكاي التعامل مع بقية. جمع الجرحى وإعادة تجميع (We'll let the native Youkai handle the rest. Collect the wounded and regroup).”

“نعم سيدي (Yes Sir)!”

The remaining robed men flew to their robed comrades, taking them along the flight to flee from the vicinity.  This was supposed to be an easy job for these Faith Reavers.  However, these two contrasting samurai proved to be a sizable threat to not underestimate in the near future.  As they took their leave, this left the winded red and blue samurai together to confront the transformed Nue they now feared.

Tsuken pushed himself up and stared at her while the remaining orbs from above were absorbed by his left arm.  He just noticed that the green UFO that was with them had flown to the large youkai, transforming into a snake tail that attached itself onto it.

“Oh, Nue Houjuu,” he commented to the large abomination of a youkai, weakly gripping his blades hilt with his right hand.  “What did these black-robed Faith Reavers do to you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, this took a long time for me to write up... To be fair, I was pretty uncomfortable writing it out due to the fact that I was trying to mix in real-life events of today's society with a bunch of video game lore and mechanics. Not to mention, I had to actually jump into the mindset of an extreme islamic believer, which I will never do again! I might not continue writing the rest of this particular book if it makes you all triggered. And yet, the fact that this subject - the importance of a Nation's Security - needs to be addressed to the public at a serious level sooner before its too late.
> 
> In the meantime, I suppose I should put the final chapter of this preview at a hold for now. Gotta get back to negotiating products to be sold in behalf of my sister, right?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even though the two samurai had the means to defeat the monsterous Nue, she proves to be more than the two samurai could handle. It was up to a Buddhist nun to save the three, for she had an idea what exactly what was going on with the incident.

A stream of hot water poured into a wooden cup from a tea kettle’s nose, tipping back from its current angle.

Carefully holding the kettle, Byakuren set it at the center of the small wooden table that occupied both her and Shou at opposite ends and pulled the cup she poured water into in front of her.  She had already mixed in a powder of green tea she brought with her in a small pouch in their cups.  Though it was a good thing that the two samurai had preparing hot water to drink tea and had left to deal with the problem before doing so, she felt slightly guilty using the boiling kettle, for it was meant for those two instead of themselves.

Still, she too had someone to take care of and that would be her disciple at the other end of the table.  As she gently blew it, she noticed that Shou was not drinking her own cup of tea, staring into the mixed green water.  Feelings of fear and concern formed within her as the priest saw her depressed.

“Is there something wrong with the tea,” Byakuren softly asked Shou.

Shou stared back at her, barely able to break away from her trance because of her master’s voice.

“N-no, there isn’t,” she answered, shaking her head.  “The tea tastes great, see?”

She brought the cup to her lips and attempted to down her drink.  However, the cup was too hot as she grasped for it, causing her to jump back a bit.

“Ah, hot!”

“Careful, the cup was recently poured for you…”

As the priest smiled at her disciple’s silliness, Shou carefully took the cup in front of her, blew it, and began sipping the contents.  Although she was worried for the two samurai that went to go rescue Nue, she began to feel slightly relieved now that she drank Byakuren’s tea.  Taking in a deep breath, she exhaled, feeling calm.

“From the looks of it, there was definitely something wrong…  Care to tell me what it is?”

Blowing at the top of the cup, Shou proceeded to sip the tea and then placed it back onto the table.

“I’m just… worried about if the two would return back.  I fear that may not be the case.”

“What do you mean?”

Shou sighed.

“It’s Nue…  She-”

She paused for a second, disturbed at the sight of her mutation.

“She transformed into something hideous.”

The sound of thunder from outside rumbled as she said that.  Byakuren’s eyes slightly widened after hearing what happened to Nue.

“Earlier you explained that some of our disciples were transformed by these yellow crystals that these black-robed individuals were in possession with, right?”

She nodded.

“I… see.”

As Byakuren took her cup, she noticed an imprint of a bloodied handprint on its surface.  She stopped herself from drinking it and placed it down on the table, looking at it.

“Something the matter,” Shou asked her.

“Yes… I just noticed that there was blood recently on this cup.  I fear they may be in trouble as well.”

The tiger youkai’s eyes widened as she stood up, now wanting to save the Samurai that went to save Nue.

“Then what are we waiting for, let’s go save them!”

“… Even if we did so, one of us has to stay behind.”

“But why, their lives are in trouble as we speak.”

“As the woman told us, they’re currently harboring a child in this house.   We have to stay behind until she wakes up, lest we leave her behind…”

Shou was shocked, but alas, she understood why the samurai told them to stay here.  She sat down, pouting that she was forced to remain stationary from this one chance to redeem herself.

_I’m sorry, Shou,_ Byakuren thought, continually staring at the mysterious handprint on her cup.  _But your mind is still unsettled about the situation at hand…_

She looked back at Shou, who slowly seemed to slip into a drowsy state.  _However, I’ll be going in your place, since I have an idea what those black-robed outsiders intend to do…_

 

Tsuken had his blade raised in front of his body, utilizing its wide frame to block Nue’s swiping blows at him.  He had to thank his keyblade for providing him a wide defense.  However, he was met with her rolling towards him shortly after.  Not wanting to be flattened, he dodged to the left and was almost hit by the following lightning strikes.  Even if he dodged the two attacks, the lightning was conducted by the rain, sending small shocks of electricity throughout his body as it struck the ground.

He knelt down, breathing heavily as he saw his weapon disappearing by his side.

“Damnit,” he yelled.  “Not no- *cough cough*”

He spat out blood, which he quickly wiped it with his left wrist.  He was not faring well, for his attacks seemed to not scathe Nue at all.  What’s more, Meira seemed to be out cold, considering the fact that lightning had grazed her shortly after attempting their duo attack against the black-robed shadows from earlier.  The battle was not in his favor.  What he needed now, more than ever, was a way to turn the tide in his favor.

Nue raised her head and cried out to the sky, calling forth lightning onto him.  He stood up and retreated to Meira, barely able to outrun the strikes that came from above due to being slowed by the shock flowing in his body.  He stopped when he approached her, kneeling down.

“Get up, Meira,” he began telling her, trying to shake her body in an attempt to revive her.  “We got trouble approaching us.”

What he didn’t notice until now was that Meira had untied one of her sword sheathes from her belt.  Lifting her left hand that held the case, she presented him it.

“My sword,” she weakly responded, looking at it to her right.  “Take it and use it for now…  I trust you with it.”

He became frightened and unsure of what to do, taking her sheathe in his hands as she laid her head back down on the ground.  What did she see in him that he did not in trusting her blade to him?  Not having any time for hesitation due to Nue’s approach behind him, he tied and secured the sheathe string onto his left side, stood up, and gripped her blade.  As he pulled her sword out of the ground, he began seeing a flash of white light in his sight; his thoughts suddenly blotting his mind.

He saw visions of an English sailor with blonde hair, slicing through men dressed as samurai or bandits with a katana.  Said man was also slicing through monstrous-looking apparitions that contrasted from this mythical land he was stranded in, absorbing yellow orb-like floating objects within his crystalized necklace.  This man, William Adams, was a samurai famously known for being the first English Samurai, as well as modernizing Japan’s navy near the Sengoku Era.  How he knew of this was from playing an action RPG game that featured more of his samurai side and the folklore side of Japan, as well as doing the research on the guy shortly after playing through the game.

Absorbing yellow orbs into a crystal necklace, though…  Wasn’t this predicament similar to the one he was currently in?  Much more, what was the name of the game that all this featured in?  Mentally diving through the thought, he saw that this English samurai was fighting a creature that resembled the one he, himself, was against.  This creature called upon lightning, kept swiping, and lunged towards him, but alas, he was able to dodge and avoid all the attacks, striking the youkai with his katana at its chest, its weak point that kept breaking its form.  He then continued the assault, preventing it from doing anything at all against him.

It was when Tsuken saw a vision of the youkai swinging his tail at the man his sight returned back to the present, to which the same movement executed by Nue was happening as he snapped back to reality.  Grasping the sword with him, he jumped back and then rolled away, barely having enough space to dodge her tail strike.

_That’s right,_ he thought, standing back up and faced Nue, assuming the middle sword stance the game had taught him.  _Every mechanic presented to me was from a game I played before entering this land: **Samurai Souls!**_

The designs of the monstrous youkai that English man fought against, the katana stances that were taught to him in this land, and the yellow orbs that he absorbed with his left arm when slaying one of the black-robed men:  Everything he just experienced came from **Samurai Souls,** an Action/Adventure RPG from the Playsystem4 that revolutionized the **Souls Series** with the use of real-life Kenjutsu and Ki.  Knowing these facts, newfound confidence grew within him as he faced his adversary before him.

As Nue readied herself to lunge at him, he braced himself, minding his distance between the large youkai and him.  She did so and was so close to biting him, had he not so suddenly side-stepped and rolled out of the way.  She fell onto her right side, exposing her stomach to his opponent.

After quickly picking himself up, he swiftly ran to her and executed an overhead slash, slashing through her stomach.  She sprang back up and flinched, which he lowered his stance.

_Now,_ he mentally commanded himself, motioning his swords into a flurry of strikes while moving forward.  Each movement he performed connected with her, causing her to flinch and back away from him while yellow orbs continually poured out of the crystals from behind her, entering into his left arm.  He continually struck her, ending his combination with a dash towards her, planting his foot onto her face, springing himself into the air and executing a Heaven’s Flash.

As Tsuken’s technique attempted to connect to her, she raised her head high and roared, causing him to miss.  Having an unsettling feeling rise within his mind, he backed up, barely able to dodge the lightning strike that struck near her.  A second thundering strike honed on him, to which he spun to his left to avoid it.  He switched back to a middle stance, pulsing his ki in the process while readying himself for Nue’s attempts to strike him.

For about two minutes, the blue-robed samurai had the upper hand against the large youkai, despite suffering from the seldom swipes and lightning strikes from her.  He was bleeding from his wounds and coughing blood, of course, but he still pressed on, knowing that the game he played a few months back before entering this land and his skills he learned during his stay would carry him through this fight.  He had to thank his mentor for enlisting him in her dojo in trade for caring for him.  Upon entering this land, her teachings were vague at first, but now with it existing in a game he once played before, every movement he executed with the katana almost became second nature to him.

What he did not expect though was Nue’s snake-like tail shooting colored orbs at him through its mouth.  According to his knowledge in **Samurai Souls,** the snake was supposed to spew out poison, not projectiles.  These orbs slowly closed towards him in burst rounds, which he easily maneuvered through them.  However, the formerly few became many scattered around the area and soon enough, he became entrapped at times by them.  He was forced to block many of her attacks, something he wanted to avoid since he was not wearing armor to provide himself a sense of security.

The tide, formerly in his favor, now was against him once more as he continually trapped himself into various defensive situations.  Pretty soon, his wounds caught up with him, causing him to lose sight at a stray orb flying towards him, striking him on his sword arm.  He dropped the blade and knelt down, breathing heavily.  The rain continually pelted down on him, causing a pool of blood to form below him.

_D-damnit,_ he thought to himself, looking at the sword while trying to squeeze his right hand.  _Is this the end for me?_

He looked at Nue, who slowly approached him.  He couldn’t help but feel a sense of remorse within her; as if she did not wish to fight him at all.  With that damned crystal formation stuck in her back, what could he do but instigate a fight in an effort to draw out what tremendous power that influenced her?

_Wait a minute…  What if these yellow orbs were the essence that allows youkai to exist?_

As he stared at his left hand, which illuminated a yellow glow, his logic began to form up an implied question about the black-robed group’s objective.  Given that they had transformed Nue into a horrendous version of herself with the use of the yellow crystals and that they were absorbing yellow orbs that came out of her, were they after spiritual energy to fuel their cause?  His mind was mindblown when he pieced together this question with his former client, who hired him of all people to assassinate her competitor in the 2016 Presidential Election. 

 

This discovery plagued him to the point that he almost forgot the fact that he was about to die by a Youkai that now was close to him.  She slowly raised its paw, feeling hesitant at what it was doing.  He looked up and closed his eyes.

_Guess this is the end for me…  If I wanted to rate this run in my life, I’d say it would be about a 4 out of 10._

Nue’s sharp claws swung down at him, to which she paused at the last second.  She noticed Byakuren standing in front of him, her arms spread out in an effort to catch her attention.  Her eyes gleamed at her, soon recognizing that she was about to strike her master in cold blood.  Her mind began snapping back into its sense, causing her to let out a loud cry of sorrow.  Lightning followed suit at the surrounding area as she placed her paws back onto the ground, shaking her head in dismay.

Byakuren did not flinch as she saw what was happening to Nue and the surrounding area.  She looked back at Tsuken, worried for his safety.

“Can you stand, Shun Yi,” she asked him.

“Y-yeah… We’re dead if I can’t,” he responded, trying to spring up to stand.  He struggled doing so, knowing that his entire body was protesting doing so.  She stepped back and slung his left arm around her.

“Good.  We’re going to save Nue together.”

The two slowly approached Nue, minding one’s wounds, while the other seemed to be lost in thought in what to do.

“I’m sorry for trying to kill her, Byakuren-sama…”

“… I don’t blame you for doing so, considering that the two of you were doing what needed to be done at the spur of the moment.  After all, samurai in this land are not well received by others, given their reputation long ago…”

“I guess the legendary tales of old are romanticized by today’s society from where I live at, eh?”

“But you and Meira are different from the samurai of old…  The two of you mean well for this land and although its inhabitants do not take kindly of you, we at Myouren Temple would be grateful if you two would help us drive whoever did this to our disciples.”

He thought about the proposition for a moment and then remained silent.  Even though he would serve her religion well by doing so, he had to consult his master in doing so first.

They stopped in front of the large youkai, to which Byakuren released his arm, stepping close to her chest.  Placing her right palm on it, while presenting her other hand to Shun, she closed her eyes, focusing her mind into prayer.

“Take my hand with your left,” she told him.

He looked at his left hand, noticing that his arm was glowing ever brightly.

“You… knew of this,” he questioned her.

“Yes, and I know exactly what needs to be done to restore her.  Now take it.”

Raising his left hand to hers, he grasped it, bracing for what’s to come.  A ray of yellow lines within his left arm coursed between his and her arms, then through her entire body to her right palm, transferring it into the large youkai as she touched Nue.  He was shocked at her display of transferring energy to others.  He wanted to question what she was doing, but knowing that she had lived long enough than him to perform such a feat and was at prayer at the moment, he decided to remain silent and focus on bearing with his own wounds at hand.

“… You must have absorbed a lot of energy during your fight against whoever did this to her, right?”

Almost fainting due to both his wounds and fatigue, he snapped himself back to her question.

“I couldn’t have done so without the help of Meira.”  His mind became wary once more by the mentioning of her.  “Speaking of which, what happened to her?  Is she safe?”

She did not move her head, silent to mention her.

“I see…  I hope she’s in a better place then…”

He sighed in disbelief, worried that he might be the last one standing to fight against what was coming to this land.  He remained silent, yet worried, hoping that he was not the only one remaining in this land to fortify this land’s military power.

“Now, Meira!”

Behind Nue and unknown to Shun, Meira had climbed onto her after recovery efforts by Byakuren.  It was not easy finding the source of her horrendous transformation due to the youkai shocking itself, but it was worth the trouble after noticing a small, red opaque orb stuck on her back, encased by a large crystal.  Holding the shorter katana by her right, she focused her ki into the blade; drawing it out and slicing through the hardened crystal in one go.

The encasing split in half, as well as the large orb within it.  As if blood spewed from an open wound, yellow spiritual essense flowed out of the crystal, which began dispersing around the Nue and reentering inside Shun’s left arm, which flowed through Byakuren and back into Nue.  Meira shielded her eyes with one of her hands, looking at the center of the cut orb.  There, it revealed a slender light-blue crystal spike that was in the center.  This must have been the shard that one of the black-robed individuals stabbed her with, which seemed to have been colored by Nue’s own blood.

Assuming that this was most likely the source of her transformation, she stabbed the sword into the orb’s center near the crystal, driving the short blade into its soft core.  This caused Nue to scream out loud and shake, but Byakuren was close to her, providing comfort that what they were doing would help her recover from her transformation.  The material was rather soft as she continually dug in, making her prying effort marginally simple.  After some time digging near the crystal, she twisted the blade to its flat on the crystal and began prying it.

Once it was loose enough, she took out the blade and sheathed it, taking a quick look before grabbing it.

“This is going to hurt,” she softly explained to herself and began pulling it.

The pain was excruciating to the point that Nue stood up, crying in agony.  Though the priest held onto her for some time, she was forced to let go to ensure Shun’s wellbeing, interrupting their spiritual transference ritual.  After a while of the large youkai throwing itself in the air, the female samurai was thrown off, but not before her momentum and tight grip onto the blue spike had made it emerge out of her back in the process.  She rolled onto her side on the ground, holding onto the spike near her front, ensuring that it did not poke her at all.

“We-we did it,” Meira told herself, maintaining her breath as she stood up and saw Nue morph back to her former self.

Fatigued by both transferring what yellow orbs his left arm had collected to Byakuren for use and his wounds, Shun began collapsing to the ground on his front side.  She knelt down to him, catching him to soften his drop.

 “I must have drained a lot of energy from you than you could handle,” she spoke to him.

He wryly smiled after seeing Nue transform back to her former self.

“I’m just glad that she returned back to normal,” he weakly responded, turning his head towards a large group of humanoid-like creatures with similar crystal-like formations marching towards them from the forest ahead of Nue and Meira.  “Now go to her.  She needs you more than ever…”

Byakuren looked at Nue, then back at him.  She too noticed a large group of enemies approaching them.

“I’ll be back for you…”

_You don’t have to worry about me,_ he thought, looking back at the sword lying behind him.  _I can still fight…_

Turning around, he slowly crawled towards Meira’s katana that he dropped earlier.  Meanwhile, Meira took notice of the approaching enemies.  Dropping the crystal spike, she took her bow out and drew the string, aiming the phantom arrow between her fingertips towards them.   Byakuren ran towards Nue and picked her up, holding her in her arms.

“Go.  Get her back to the temple.  It’s dangerous around here at this point,” Meira commanded her.

“But Shun’s still in trouble,” Byakuren told her, looking back at him as he was so close to retrieving his weapon back.

“Don’t worry about him.  I’ll extract him out of here as soon as you two are at a safe distance.”

For a while, the priest was hesitant.  However, she nodded back, trusting her considering the fact that Meira and Shun were student and master to one another.  Holding Nue tight, she began floating in the air and flew out of the area, leaving them to her former disciples.  Meira released the bowstring and redrew it, unleashing arrow after arrow at the group of transformed figures.  As she pincushioned them with phantom arrows, they ran towards her, forcing her to swap weapons at the last second to save herself.

**Author's Note:**

> And now, its time to move onto the 2nd book. Hope warfare interests you all, for a whole slew of a mess is going to happen soon enough in this peaceful land of Gensokyo due to events in today's time!


End file.
